State eyes bear hunting

Friday

The Department of Environmental Conservation wants a hunting season to control growing black bear populations.

The state is looking to hunting as a way to control the region’s growing black bear population.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing that black bear hunting be expanded this fall to parts of 22 upstate counties, including Ontario, Yates, Wayne, Monroe, Livingston, Seneca and Steuben. The bear-hunting season would coincide with deer hunting season.

The DEC’s proposal to expand bear hunting to this region “is part of our continuing effort to better manage bear populations and provide excellent hunting opportunities in New York state,” said DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis.

Expanding the bear-hunting region is a way to slow “the expansion of black bear range and population and reduce conflicts between black bears and people before those conflicts reach unacceptable levels,” he said.

There are an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 black bears in New York — a number that has grown significantly in recent years, according to the DEC. Most are in the Adirondack region, with the remainder living mostly in the Allegany and Catskill regions.

But dozens of bears are also living in Ontario and surrounding counties, and sightings have increased. Last Saturday, a car full of mothers and kids spotted a bear off Ferguson Road in Seneca Castle, and on Monday, people filled the parking lot of the Windy Hill Flower Farm at Routes 96 and 88 in Phelps to see a bear that wandered onto that property. Spottings are commonplace in southern Ontario County.

In recent years, bears have expanded their range considerably, leading to a growing number of interactions between bears and people, including instances where bears have entered homes or cabins, said Grannis.

Michael Wasilco, DEC regional wildlife manager, said no one has been hurt in a confrontation with a bear in the Finger Lakes region, though some bears have caused problems. This spring, a bear in Junius, Seneca County, had to be captured and destroyed because it had a history of breaking into houses, said Wasilco.

Sandy Hey, one of the mothers who spotted the bear in Seneca Castle last Saturday afternoon, is opposed to a bear hunting season here. The young black bear they saw looked beautiful as it crouched in the grass, she said.

“It looked so cute sitting there,” she said, adding that when they walked toward it to get a closer look, it ran off into the woods.

The DEC held a series of public meetings last fall and winter on upstate on black bears, including strategies to manage bear populations. Expanded bear hunting was supported where bear spottings were common, said the DEC.

Public meetings on the new bear-hunting regulations are planned in July to give people a chance to comment. Meetings in Ontario County take place on July 15 and July 17, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Ontario County Safety Training Building, 2914 County Road 48, Hopewell.

To view a map of DEC’s Wildlife Management Unit locations, visit the DEC’s home page, www.dec.ny.gov and follow the links under Outdoor Recreation. The DEC will be accepting comments on the proposed regulations until Aug. 9.

To send written comments, go to the DEC Web site and proceed to the links under regulations and enforcement. You can also mail them to: Gordon Batcheller, NYSDEC, Bureau of Wildlife, 625 Broadway, Albany, N.Y. 12233-4754.